Calda Notte
by WhatsABriard
Summary: Sequel of sorts to Dolce Notte. Robert is on the mend, which means he can resume normal activity. This is Very Good News for everyone, especially us.
1. Chapter 1

_"The doctor okayed the female superior position," I whispered, trying to sound sly and sexy._

 _"That's not a position, it's a way of life," she whispered back._

 _\- Iolokus, MustangSally & RivkaT_

 **Sequel of sorts to Dolce Notte. Robert is on the mend, which means he can resume normal activity. This is Very Good News for everyone, especially us.**

Cora Crawley may have enjoyed days filled with purpose but she did not enjoy when that purpose kept her out long past dark.

Dinner and a meeting turned into dinner and a battle, and she fairly had to drag herself through the wide double doors and past Carson into the quiet darkness of the grand foyer. She was sure she caught a hint of disapproval as his eyebrows rippled at her but she was so tired she couldn't be bothered.

"Is his Lordship still up, Carson?" She asked hopefully. Her husband's stamina had greatly increased over the previous few weeks and he was spending more time up than resting in their bed. The memories of that awful night had faded to a dull ache, much like his sore abdomen, and they were attempting to regain a sense of normalcy in the house. They often met in the library for a nightcap - tea, usually - while they talked quietly.

"I'm sorry my Lady, he went up about an hour ago."

She tried not to wince and Carson's eyebrows shifted again. With a twitch of her shoulders she turned in the direction of the stairs. She felt a stab of irritation at the butler but knew he only had her husband's best interest at heart. And if she felt guilty, she only had herself to blame.

"Very well. Good night, Carson."

"Goodnight, my lady."

She hoped Robert wasn't already asleep, wished to spend some quiet time with him discussing her day. It was an odd role reversal, she passing her hours out and busy while he stayed close to home. However she had no doubt that he would be more active again, just as soon as Dr. Clarkson gave him the go-ahead. The idea thrilled her in a variety of ways.

The bedroom was lit low and Robert sat on the lounge, a crystal glass held carelessly between his fingertips one third filled with amber liquid. He looked comfortable, as though he'd been there for some time. Absently she pulled the cord to ring for Baxter and then crossed to stand beside the chaise, feeling her own eyebrows arch as Carson's had just moments earlier. She wanted to admonish him for the alcohol but stopped herself - he had been so very good during his convalescence. A single drink wouldn't hurt.

"The lady returns." He smiled and scooted sideways, making room for her to perch beside his legs on the chaise. "Was it a dreadful bore?"

"And then some." She leaned, bracing herself on her hand across his knees. "I've another invitation for next week. If the doctor approves, I would like you to go with me."

Something in Robert's face shifted before it smoothed into nonchalance and he tilted his head and his drink at the same time. "If the lady wishes."

Cora grinned softly before pinching at his thigh. "The lady misses her dearest friend and closest confidante and is in need of an escort before other gentlemen get the wrong idea."

"Ah, I always knew I would retire and become a man of leisure. I had no idea I was to be the queen's consort."

"You are dashing enough to fit the bill, and Lord Warrington has been awfully attentive as late."

"So I will be a bodyguard and a trophy husband?"

He set aside his drink and caught her hands between his. His palms were warm and soft and it felt so right to be beside him, speaking so freely. His voice - just the sound of it - was a miracle to her.

"You are the first and only prize I should ever want. A trophy indeed." She squeezed his fingers and he returned the gentle pressure. "And how was your day?"

The strange ripple surfaced again; this time Cora recognized it. He was hiding something from her. She had to swallow hard past the lump that lodged itself in her throat. A frigid heat suffused her veins and she felt sweat immediately pool at the base of her spine.

"Oh the usual. I had a walk with Tom and he showed me some of the changes he and Mary have made while I've been recuperating. We visited Mr. Mason at Ewe Tree before returning to story-time with the children. Sybbie came up with the most wonderful story about an enchanted teacup. You'll need to ask her about it tomorrow at tea."

"And…?" She prodded gently, not particularly wanting the answer.

"And I had a visit with Dr. Clarkson." She tried to keep her features flat but he must have sensed her instant distress because his eyes widened. "No, no. Nothing bad, darling. Very much the opposite in fact. He, ah, cleared me for, ah, more strenuous activity."

He blurted it so fast it took Cora a few seconds to process his words fully. Her tight lips loosened into a smile and he gave her a grin to match.

"Oh?" She asked airily, and he brought their joined hands to his lips. "Strenuous activity. Like going out for an afternoon with the horses?"

"Yes. I've been cleared for," He coughed purposely. "Riding."

"And perhaps hunting?" She leaned in closer.

"Yes, I've been cleared to fall upon my prey." He drew her in further.

"And fencing. Have you been cleared for fencing?"

Their noses were almost touching and, just before his face blurred a wicked glint sparked in his eyes. "I've my foil right here. Thrust and parry, my lady?"

He swallowed her response, dragging her towards him with his palm cupping the back of her neck. She tumbled into the kiss, her mouth opening wantonly, needing to feel the connection. His tongue slid between her lips and she moaned The flair of want sparked into an instant inferno, warmth filling her belly. She curled her fingers in his dressing jacket, clinging to him with helpless desperation.

He nibbled at her lips and the sob she let out was a result of joy and the last of her terror slipping away. Her fingertips drew wild paths through his hair, dragging him closer to her until she was nearly perched in his lap.

It was the clearing of Baxter's throat that startled them back to reality and Cora sat back from her husband, her eyes round and her lips swollen. She didn't look over her shoulder at her maid, knowing she was quite unpresentable at the moment.

"I'm sorry, my lady. You rang for me…"

"I did." Cora's voice wavered and Robert smirked. "I apologize for keeping you up so late-"

"Send her away." Robert's words were low and his eyes never strayed from hers.

"It's no worry, your Ladyship. I had some mending."

"Send her away."

"I-," Cora fumbled again.

"That will be all, Baxter." Robert spoke for her. "I have her Ladyship well in hand."

Cora's eyes widened and she was sure Baxter mumbled something before the bedroom door clicked shut again. It was several more seconds for Cora's brain to catch up.

"Well in hand! You are incorrigible, Robert." She slapped gently at the hand drawing up over her thigh.

"I want to undress you myself." His knee tapped her hip and she stood, watching him with wide-eyed interest. "You are a gift I've waited a very long time to enjoy and I'm tired of watching Baxter have all the fun."

A giggle spilled over her lips.

"Then by all means, your Lordship." She turned on her low heels and held her arms out, a kind of surrender. She glanced back over her shoulder playfully. "Have your way with me."

(1/2)


	2. Chapter 2

_"_ _Then by all means, your Lordship." She turned on her low heels and held her arms out, a kind of surrender. She glanced back over her shoulder playfully. "Have your way with me."_

He began gently, running his fingers from the pulse in her wrist, over the loose silk of her sleeve to her collar. With each small pearl he loosed, his lips followed leaving a burning a tingling trail down her spine.

Cora's head spun. He was so near, so alive. The heat of his breath ignited bursts of pleasure against her skin and she didn't bother to stifle her moan and her knees threatened to buckle.

"Darling, please." She hissed when he nibbled her skin through her clothing.

He stood, pressed close enough behind for her to feel his desire and tilted her chin back to kiss her.

"You don't taste like whiskey." She spoke nonsensically when he broke the kiss to push the blouse from her shoulders.

His soft chuckle was his only response and he continued to peel away the layers until she stood in nothing but her shift corset. Her skin was fairly glowing with the pleasure of being pampered and, finally, Robert turned her to face him. His fingers brushed her breasts - perhaps a little too intentionally to be a mere coincidence - and he unhooked the metal fastenings.

"No, really, Robert. Why don't you taste like whiskey?" Her words were slurred with pleasure and his amused grin looked up at her from navel-height. She was attractively wanton, her usually pale eyes dark with ardor from their intoxicating play.

"It appears so many months of abstinence means I've lost the taste for it."

"Huh." She grunted and then her mind went blank as her corset dropped to the floor and his fingers pressed between her thighs. "I hope you haven't lost a taste for other things from which you've abstained."

"No chance of that." It felt as though his hands were everywhere, running warmly over her skin from her ankles to her thighs, over her buttocks as he pulled up her shift and tossed it away with the rest of her clothes.

She would probably be very cross with him come morning, when her beloved outfit was creased and crinkled from the abuse of lying wadded on the floor. But the morning was very many hours away and his tongue was dancing deliciously over the skin of her abdomen.

Suddenly the world shifted and she was looking up at him. She sat up against the bedclothes and watched as he hurriedly devested himself of his own robe and pajamas. He was about to crawl in with her when his slack face turned up in a wicked wicked little smile.

"Perhaps…" He said and slid away from her, returning with the crystal glass of whiskey.

Cora didn't even have time to object before he dribbled some of the liquid to pool in her navel, although she did yelp when the cold liquid made contact with her skin.

There was no time to balk, however, because Robert laid his mouth against her and slurped at the whiskey. Cora's spine arched and a rush of moisture pooled between her thighs, almost surprising in its intensity. It was not always easy anymore, to be...ready, for Robert. Red-faced she had asked the doctor about the slight pain, the difficulty to be open for him. With equal mortification but steady, clinical answers Dr. Clarkson had explained that it was normal, natural and to be expected. That as women aged, shifts in their body's chemistry made it more difficult to experience arousal.

Difficult but not impossible, he had said, and Cora had gone home to cry. Perhaps they were not as passionate as they once were, but the idea of never - or rarely - sharing this closeness with her husband was terribly frightening.

"This is much better." He rumbled against her belly, drawing her attention away from her morose thoughts and onto much more pleasurable ones.

With an indulgent and slightly wobbly smile she cupped his neck and urged him nearer to her so she could press her lips to his. She licked at the corners of his mouth delicately and paused, as though testing the taste. "Yes. Much better this way."

When he pressed his fingertips to his center once more, his bewildered smile made her heart clench.

"Difficult, but not impossible." She murmured and he adjusted himself between her thighs. Peppering gentle kisses over her face, he shifted his hips and slid inside her easily. They sighed together at the sensation and Cora's hands drifted to still his buttocks for a moment. Finally she nodded slowly and with great care he withdrew and thrust again. This time his groan was even more pronounced and, with some fear, Cora opened her eyes to look at him.

The grimace of pain was obvious and Cora's hands immediately went to his abdomen.

"No," He panted unconvincingly, another thrust, shallower and still accompanied by a look of discomfort. "I'm alright."

"You are most certainly not alright." She pushed at his shoulders and as he slipped from inside her he grimaced again and fell onto his back.

"This is terrible." He said to the room in general and jumped when Cora's hands prodded at the skin of his stomach.

"And Dr. Clarkson truly said this was OK?" She asked, drawing a pattern through the sparse hair across his chest, willing him to look at her, needing to assure herself he was truly all right.

"He admitted I was likely to be sore but…"

"We're not as young as we used to be," Cora murmured more to herself and motioned Robert to sit up against the pillows. He dragged himself slowly, feeling old and out of sorts. "I so wanted this to be the night…"

He almost finished his apology when Cora climbed onto his lap.

"We're not as young as we used to be so we'll just have to make adjustments." Taking his manhood in hand she held it just so until she was poised over him. With excruciating slowness she sank onto him.

"Oh God." He said aloud, echoing the voice in her head. "That's good."

"Let me love you," She said against his lips and set a languid pace, rotating her hips and enjoying the sounds of pleasure Robert allowed to slip. For long months the only sounds in their bed had been murmured conversations and his pained moans and uncomfortable sounds of frustration. Banishing those memories from their recollection was her goal. She laced their fingers together and raised their twined hands to brace herself against the headboard. Robert was completely at her mercy and she watched his eyes follow the slow rise and fall of her breasts.

He could be so terribly visual, she mused, and laughed when he stifled another grimace to lean forward to lap at her nipple. Visual and determined. The laughter dissolved into something else entirely, though, when his teeth scraped over the sensitive skin.

"Mmmm," She allowed her head to loll back and, unwilling to be an uninvolved participant any longer, Robert loosed his hands from hers and gripped at her buttocks. With a slight slap to her hip, he urged her to a quicker pace.

"Tally ho," She whispered and he bucked against her, sending himself deeper into her warmth.

Each press of their bodies together sent another spike of pleasure through her abdomen and before long they were moving together quickly, sloppily, and Cora dropped her head to Robert's neck. With wicked delight she allowed her teeth to sink into the corded muscles. His shout was quick and loud and almost pained as he emptied into her. She slowed to a halt and rested her hands on his slick shoulders, kneading as he returned back to his senses.

"I never asked," He rasped. "Did Doctor Clarkson clear you for riding?"

"It's a bit too late now, isn't it?" She contracted her muscles around his softening manhood and his body twitched. Needing release, coiled as tightly as we was and desperate, she pressed her hand between them and rolled her fingers over the sensitive bud where they joined.

She must have lost her own senses for a moment because when she opened her eyes again their positions had shifted and Robert was half draped over her, his thigh between her legs.

His smile was smug and the tips of his ears burned red, an adorable little after-effect of their passion. She brushed her fingers over the skin of one ear and he leaned into her touch.

"I like it when you're on top." He said goofily, his fingers playing at her breasts still and his breathing uneven.

"As do I." She agreed and was pleased that her own voice was thready and high. "Perhaps you should get used to it."

Robert's laughter was soothing, freer than it had been in ages. "The queen's consort?"

"There are worse ways to live."

He pressed her forehead to hers and a kiss to her nose. "And I do intend to live."

(2/2)

 _And there you have it. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and stuffs - it bears repeating that the Cobert fandom is the best fandom because we just like our old married sex and we'll taken it whenever and however we can get it._

 _Bang on, friends. :D_


End file.
